Stacey Brown (Geography)

2015-2016

“Gateway to Poor Health? Environmental Justice and Health Disparities in the St. Louis Metro”

The purpose of this research is to understand how air quality impacts neighborhood health . By examining hosptial discharge at the neighborhood level, health gradients can be exposed between different socioeconomic levels (Crouse, Ross, Goldberg 2009; Lynch, Davey Smtih, Harper and Bainbridge 2006; Marmot, 2004; Wilkins, Berthelot and Ng 2002; Wilkins, Tjepkema, Mustard and Choiniere 2008 ). In addition to finding discrepancies between socioeconomic ranks, there has also been differences in health and pollution found not just between cities , but rather between neighborhoods in the same city (Briggs et al. 2000; Jerrett et al. 2005 ; Zhu et al. 2002). By understanding the admission rates in areas of high pollution levels, correlations and regression analysis can reveal the impact on residential health in Missouri . Seasonal variations in admission rates can be tied to these pollution events to allow physicians and hospitals better understanding of demand for services. In addition, this admission data can identify area-level attributes that can be attributing to poor health. Incorporating hospital discharge data will provide information on where health inequalities are occurring and the various symptoms that exist for areas with poor air quality. In addition, there is a lack of understanding of health in the Metro East side of the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). This is due to the MSA covering two states and therefore, many health related issues are unknown by only using Illinois hospital discharge data. By incorprating the Missouri discharge data, a better picture of health will emerge for not just the Metro East, but the entire St. Louis MSA.